Abstract :
Background: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Empathy is the cornerstone of the physician –patient relationship. Empathy is a desirable quality among clinicians and can be developed during medical education.
Objectives: To measure the mean score of empathy among medical students and to compare the score of empathy among various semesters and among male and female students.
Method: A cross sectional questionnaire based study was conducted among 174 undergraduate medical students from IV, VI and VIII semesters at NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and research center, Nagpur. The assessment of empathy was done by using the Jefferson’s scale of Physician’s empathy –student version. Data was analyzed by using T test and ANOVA test. The total score possible ranges from 20-140.
Results: Mean score of empathy was found to be 99.25± 13.81. The score range was from 63-125. Mean score of empathy was found to be better among female students (101.30±14.534) as compared to male students (97.05±12.717). Difference between scores among male and female students was found to be statistically significant (T=2.05, p value
Keyword :
Empathy, Medical students, Mean score, Jefferson’s scale